DETROIT —
At Mid-American Conference Media Day, the Toledo Rockets were selected to win the West Division and the Bowling Green Falcons were picked to finish sixth in the East heading into the 2019 season.
The Rockets received 127 total points from the conference's media members, which included 15 first-place votes Tuesday morning.
Bowling Green earned 37 points, the least amount only behind Central Michigan. The Falcons finished 3-9 and fired their head coach Mike Jinks. At the conclusion of the 2018 season, Scot Loeffler, the former Boston College offensive coordinator, was hired as the team’s head coach.
The Rockets are led by head coach Jason Candle, who enters his fourth season. Last season, the Rockets finished 7-6, their worst season since 2013. However, they won four of their last five regular-season games but concluded the season with a 35-32 loss to Florida International in the Bahamas Bowl.
The Ohio Bobcats topped the Rockets by just six votes to win the MAC Championship game preseason prediction. Ohio received a unanimous 24 votes to win the East.
Team (First Place Votes) Points
MAC East Division
1. Ohio (24) 144
2. Miami 107
3. Buffalo 100
4. Kent State 62
5. Akron 54
6. Bowling Green 37
MAC West Division
1. Toledo (15) 127
2. Western Michigan (5) 112
3. Northern Illinois (3) 103
4. Eastern Michigan 83
5. Ball State 43
6. Central Michigan (1) 36
Toledo opens up the season at Kentucky on Saturday, Aug. 31 at noon. The Rockets' first in-conference opponent is Western Michigan. The Broncos finished second in the preseason poll in the West with 112 points.
The Falcons kick off the season at home against Morgan State on Thursday, Aug. 29, at 7:00 p.m. Their first conference game comes at Kent State on September 21.
The two rivals square off at Doyt Perry Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 12 for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of I-75. The Rockets have won the last nine games in the series.
